Roger Young Ltd have established that the Azalai’s problem is not the Engine Management System (which is reassuring) – rather it is an electrical short somewhere which is blowing a fuse every time the engine tries to run. The symptoms to [the rare] EMS problem were the same as it presented, but it’s more likely “a loose wire somewhere”. It also looks like the small oil leak can be attributed to the gearbox. OEC have aranged for Paula to be trailered back to them so they can tidy up these snags. It will also give them a chance to fit the tail-lift too.
In the meantime we have booked a train to reading and accommodation in Oxford to make sure we can attend the Wilderness Medicine weekend course. Rob Cooksley (who has already made a great donation to www.motivation.org.uk) is kindly going to ferry us from Reading to Oxford.
We will need to work out how to get up to James at the Travel Health Consultancy next Tuesday for the next lot of jabs.
The real bummer is losing the LR Driver Training and four nights proving time in the van. At least the snags seem readily resolvable though! Poor old Paula, she has probably, since leaving the factory, done more miles on a trailer than on the road!
As an aside I’m very much looking forward to giving a presentation about the project to the 10th Torbay Sea Scouts next week. The Scouts are a great organisation and I hope that the venture will be of some incerest to them.
The other positive news is that the laptop looks like it can be revived with a new battery at £100 rather than a whole new computer. One of our aims is to share as much of the trip over the Interweb as possible – so it is essential kit. I just hope that he battery arrives in time for the Scouts!